Rajiv Dogra

Rajiv Dogra
Rajiv Dogra
Born	1948; Jabalpur, India
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Indian diplomat

Rajiv Dogra is an Indian diplomat, author and commentator. Dogra was the Indian Consul General to Karachi, Pakistan, and has served as Indian ambassador to Romania and to Italy.

Rajiv Dogra started his career with the Indian Foreign Service in 1974, following a degree in electrical engineering from Benares Hindu University (BHU). He began his career with a posting at the Indian Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden, and rose to national and international prominence during his tenure as Consul General of India in Karachi, Pakistan, when his official residence was ransacked by a mob on the 8th December, 1992 in the riots following the demolition of the Babri mosque in Ayodhaya, India. Dogra went on to complete a sensitive two year assignment in Karachi, though the Consulate of India in the port city of Karachi has remained closed since.

Dogra next served as Minister of the High Commission of India in London from 1994 to 1997 and as the Ambassador to Romania from 1997 to 2001. In the course of his career, he also served in Italy and in Qatar, and as Additional Secretary for Economic Relations and Administration of the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi from 2001 to 2005. His final posting before retirement was to Italy, where he served as Indian ambassador to Italy and San Marino and concurrently as India's permanent representative to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Rajiv Dogra is fluent in foreign languages including Swedish and Italian. He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Oradea in Romania, where he is also an associate professor, and was made an honorary professor by Valahia University in Targoviste, Romania. Ambassador Dogra has also served as a member of the Advisory Committee for the Central Asian Studies Programme of the Centre for South, Central & South East Asian Studies, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi.

In spite of his busy schedule in the Indian Foreign Service he has managed to keep up with his interests in writing fiction and in art. He has written several short stories and editorials in newspapers, and has also published two novels. The first, Footprints in Foreign Sands, was published by Har-Anand Publications in 1997, and deals with the issues of immigration. Almost an Ambassador, a satirical look at the diplomatic corps, followed in 2005 (Srishti Publishers), and featured in the Indian bestseller list for several weeks. Through his role in the diplomatic service and through his writing, Dogra has served as a keen political and current affairs commentator, with a particular interest in the developing role of India and her relations with the rest of the world.

He now resides in Delhi, and is married with two children.